Birth and 6 Month Comparison

It is amazing how different 2 sister can be! I was just thinking about them and decided to do a quick comparison. Here is Elizabeth at 1 day...

Here is Carla at 1 day...

Here is Elizabeth at 6 months...

Here is Carla at 6 months...

Wow are they ever so different! Carla was a string bean, then she exploded! Poose was a chunky monkey at birth and then thinned out! Crazy crazy!

Your hair! Your beautiful hair!!!

Yes, Carla did the unthinkable. She got scissors and while she was supposed to be napping, she cut off her hair! Her beautiful brown, beach curly hair! Oh I'm sure it hurt me more than it did her. I ended up cutting her hair. It was her first haircut and she loved it! I guess 2 1/2 years before her first haircut is a pretty long time, but hey, I love her hair. She loves her hair short. Slowly but surely it is growing out. I part her hair down the middle a lot to try to hide the huge patch of stubby hair on the side of her head. Children will be children right?!

Not my children!

Picture this. Zach in the bathroom (don't picture this), hearing Carla saying, "Ouch, ouch, nose, ouch." Then she starts crying, "Stuck, owie, stuck nose, help, ayuda porfavor!" Zach finishes up (don't picture), goes into her room and she is in her crib saying that her nose hurts. Zach thinks, oh maybe she just has a booger stuck up her nose. So he has her blow her nose, and lo and behold, a bead comes out of each one of her nostrils! Gross!!!! One of them was even bloody. What in the world posses children to stick things up their nose?? I don't understand. But then again, some grown ups have a fascination with sticking their fingers up their nose. Sorry no picture of either scenario.

Book of Mormon Stories is...

Carla's new favorite song. We sing it all day long, especially before bedtime and naptime, and of course every Family Home Evening- along with Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam. It is so stinking cute! What a cutie pie.

That is "kitty" doing Book of Mormon Stories with her. Kitty is Carla's best friend. He does everything with her. She got Kitty from Grandma Roberts for her 1 year birthday and she is still in love with him.

Sincere Prayers...

So, lately Carla has started to say "real" prayers. She has been asking for what she really wants and needs, and being grateful for real things. She just makes my heart melt. Some the the things that she has included in her prayers are as follows:

Please mommy so Carla Winnie Pooh poop

Translation: Please let mommy let me watch Winnie the Pooh

Bless Daddy homework

Translation: Bless Daddy at school and at work whichever one he is at

Thank you toes

Translation: Thank you for my toes

Please Singa mimis, mommy mimis, daddy mimis, Carla mimis

Translation: Please bless each one of us that we can go to sleep (mimis)

Please Bita and Wito come here

Translation: Please let Grandma and Grandpa Barrientos come see me

These are some of her please and thank yous. Goodness she is smart! It also got me to thinking. She really prays for what she wants, even though she is so young, she understands that Heavenly Father is listening to her and cares about the simple things. Do I have that kind of faith? Do I pray for the small things that concern me, or just for those life altering decisions that need to be made? Carla tells Heavenly Father EVERYTHING she does during the day, that we went outside to play, that she had eggs for breakfast, that she played with her toys, why don't I? She has such a sweet, innocent, and sincere relationship with her Father in Heaven. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to see why the Lord said to become like a little child. Their relationship with Father is sincere and simple. Something I need to work on. Thank you for your wonderful example mi hija!

Carla is 2... yes the big T W O!!!!

There are many new and exciting milestones that she has reached.
She can take her clothes on and off all by herself- mostly off though, she HATES wearing clothes.
She ABSOLUTELY loves being a big sister.
She is starting to learn to reason. "Carla you can have a popciccccle after you eat lunch." "Okay mommy." After lunch, "Please popciccccle mommy??" She is so smart.
She wakes up every morning and every nap-time naked, I mean butt naked!
She loves watching monsters, which is her special Saturday and Sunday treat with daddy.
She has learned her numbers in Spanish up to six, although she has a hard time remembering 4 sometimes.
She loves to read! Some of her favorite books are- Mom Mine, You Do, Mama do you love me, Zoom Zoom, This is the way we take a bath, The Book of Mormon Stories, The Friend, We're going on a bear hunt- especially the "tiptoe tiptoe tiptoe... WHAT'S THAT?!?" part.
She loves to color, and paint, not such a huge fan of finger painting though. She complains that her hands are yucky.
She loves eggs and yogurt!
She says "come in" when we knock on her door to get up from bedtime or after nap-time.
She loves playing with Bug, Taylor, Adam, Lacey, and Keith- our neighbors. She goes over to their house and knocks and knocks and yells "come in" until they let her come in.
She is daddy's buddy. She runs full speed to him when he comes home, and waves goodbye and blows him kisses until she can't see him when he leaves.
She went to her first movie- Despicable Me, and sat through most of it, except for when she went to the potty... all 5 times!
She is now, at 25 months potty trained, which she did all by herself!!
She loves taking bubble baths. She got two today... lucky baby.Best of all, when she goes to sleep she still waits for me to tell her...
"I'll like you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."
So despite all of her growing up, she will always, ALWAYS be my baby.
You bring joy, laughter, and pride to my life, my sweet baby girl.

Jesus is here????

The other night we were sitting down in the living room playing with Carla, when suddenly she heard the main entrance to the apt complex open and someone walk up the stairs. She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "He's coming! He's coming!" I proceeded to ask her who was coming and her reply was simply, "Jesus. Jesus is coming." Puzzled I asked her again, "Jesus is coming?" She said, "Yip. Jesus is coming."
Oh what sweet innocence. I thought about it and realized that He IS always coming. He is always with us, in our home, in our hearts. I love the things that come out of the mouths of babes, except for when it is "no." Never loose your innocence my little love.

Ba loon

Carla is saying new words all the time, but two of my favorites were uttered from her sweet little lips just a few days ago. We were at Smith's when suddenly she pointed to the balloons and said, "Ba loon." It was so stinking cute! Now she can spot a balloon a mile away and starts fussing and pointing and saying "ba loon, ba loon." I get a kick out of it every time! The other words she started saying was "I do." She got that from her book You Do, which is about a mom telling her daughter to not do something, and the little girl says "you do." The mom of course, tries to justify herself and in the end asks who deserves a tickle, and the daughter says. "I do." So, out of an entire book, Carla decided to say "I do." Now she walks around with her You Do book saying I do. Oh I love it!! She is such a joy to have in my life. There isn't a day that goes by without sweet, tender, funny moments, in which I realize again and again how truly lucky I am to be her mom.

Rub a dub dub, Ducky in the...

Toilet?? Zach went in to use the potty, good thing he looked in before he did. Much to his suprise there were two of her bath duckies! Carla is such a nut!!

What's yours is mine, & what's mine is mine

Yes, that is Carla's motto. So for the first time since she was born, I saw something that I wanted for myself and I bought it. It was a water bottle, almost identical to the purple one shown, but mine is blue with no butterflies. I bought it, and then Carla decided it was now her new sippy. I finally gave up and put milk in it and used as such. I was whining to Zach two Saturdays ago because of it and much to my amazement, when I got home from school there was a present on the table. Inside was a letter.
Also inside the present was MY water bottle and a water bottle for Carla, the purple one.It holds 16 oz, and she LOVES it... thankfully. I have such an amazing and wonderful husband. I love how he takes the initiative in so many ways to bring a smile to my face. What a sweetheart!

Dressing herself... sortof

Zach was dressing Carla for the day, when she decided to help dress herself. Where do pants go?? Oh your HEAD of course! She was trying to put them on head so Zach helped her out. She loved it. She walked around for a while with her pants on her head. Oh she is just makes me laugh.

Naked Adventure

I laid Carla down for her nap and she wanted nothing to do with it! She was yelling "MAMA, MAMA." Since I didn't go get her out, she took off her diaper and peed all over her bed, then she found the one dry spot in her crib, laid down and went to sleep. Now when I lay her down, I have to make sure that she is wearing pants that she cant get off, and that she isn't only wearing a diaper. I laid Carla down for her nap and she wanted nothing to do with it! She was yelling "MAMA, MAMA." Since I didn't go get her out, she took off her diaper and peed all over her bed, then she found the one dry spot in her crib, laid down and went to sleep. Now when I lay her down, I have to make sure that she is wearing pants that she cant get off, and that she isn't only wearing a diaper.

Hurricane Carla

My baby girl is walking everywhere! She just absolutely loves to walk. Zach and I call her Hurricane Carla. We can tell everywhere that she has been by the mess she has left behind. It makes me laugh, and at times frustrated because I feel like all I do ALL day is clean up after her. But hey, that is what having a mobile one year old is all about! She is such a blast! She is walking so well, and all in a matter of weeks. One day, it just clicked and instead of taking 3 to 7 steps, she just started walking EVERYWHERE! No assistance needed or wanted. Oh my little baby, she has become a toddler!

Random tidbits

Carla drank out of a cup by herself for the first time! Her daddy showed her how it is done.

Carla cut her 14th tooth! She has more teeth than how many months old she is. She gets 1-2 teeth every month. Boy I hope she is done for a while.

Daddy built Carla her first tent!

She got her first diaper rash this week. I thought she had another yeast infection, it would have been her 4th one. We took her to the doctors, and he said, that this time, it was a diaper rash, plain and simple. Poor little one.

Carla is now walking EVERYWHERE! Last week, Carla walked across the living room for the first time! I was rolling over and she was chasing me. It was so cute. She did it 3 times. Since then, it was if it suddenly clicked. Now she walks just as much, if not more than she crawls.

She loves PB sandwiches, hamburgers (with ketchup, mustard, mayo, onions, and pickles), grapefruit, noodles with cheese sauce or alfredo, and CANDY CANES!!

When she sees her daddy, the first thing that she wants is for him to pick her up and show her the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Oh how she loves her daddy, especially his height! He can show her things that there is no way that I could.

Carla's Big Birthday Party!

Sadly we didn't get a lot of pics of her birthday party, but it sure was fun! My good friend, Amy Pearce helped me make her cake. I did the decorating and she did the rest. It was so much fun though! Our hands turned pink because we had to mix in the red into the frosting and the fondant. I took me 5 hours to decorate it. Oh yeah, I found patience that I didn't even know that I had!! But it was well worth it! EVERYTHING on the cake was edible. Amazing huh?!? Yup Amy sure was a life saver!

At the party we had Salvadorean Turkey Sandwiches, and chips. My mom made the turkey, and I bought the chips. Oh yeah, we ate good! We set up a couple tables with some pictures of Carla and our family pictures. It was neat to see how she has changed over this past year. It was fun to see old friends, new friends, and family. We had 3 pinatas and mingled.

Of course Carla started us off with the pinatas. It was funny because she was so scared of it. She didn't want to hit it, so I helped her. She was probably thinking, "now what are you trying to make me do mom?"

We were supposed to play "hot potato" and "musical chairs" but ended up not having time. We got to play and talk, and demolish pinatas! Everyone got to hit the pinata, even our parents, as shown by my dad!

My Birthday Girl!!!

Carla turned 1 on Monday of last week. That means she is 1 year and 1 week old. I remember when she was only 1 week. Time sure does fly by. I love all of her new stages, but I also miss all of her old ones. I love how she says "mama," "dada" and, "aita" (Carlita). I little pumpkin head is getting all grown up. Zach and I learned what love really is, and how to truly love deeply with her. I didn't know that I could love so much and so deep. Carla means the world to me. Her smile brightens up even the darkest of rooms. Her eyes light up every time she sees her daddy. She loves her daddy so much. It is especially cute when he gets her out of her crib and she snuggles up right into him. She loves being with him. When I put her down for a nap and Daddy is home, she sobs until he goes and gets her. They play for a little while and then he will put her pack down and she goes right to sleep. Talk about daddy's girl!! And he enjoys every minute of it!I love watching them interact. It is absolutely adorable.

On her Birthday, we had a little family party. We celebrated my mom's birthday and Carla's birthday at the same time. We had a cake, chips and salsa, and opened presents. Her favorite toy is the Lion Walker that my parents bought her. She absolutely LOVES it! Her face beams as soon as she sees it. Every day she plays with it for hours. I love how it is helping her walk. She is even starting to make lion noises, thanks to her little cousins teaching her.

Weaning...

CARLA IS WEANED! She stopped nursing 3 weeks ago on Wednesday. I can't believe it! It was harder for me than it was for her. I was sad, but knew that it needed to be done. I don't want her to be 12 years old and me still nursing her... ewww! All and all, it wasn't too bad. The one really nice thing about it is that now she drinks out of her sippy and she can be watched at any time. I don't have to plan my day around her feedings...NICE! I was also able to put away all of my nursing stuff! Yay for old clothes!!! It is like I have a whole new wardrobe again. Woo hoo!

Fall Fun!

Zach took Carla outside to play in the fall leaves. She loved it!! Zach would stomp on the leaves, and she would just start laughing and laughing. She LOVED crawling in the leaves. Zach is such a good daddy. Taking her out to play even though I can't. Although I have to admit, I did step outside for a few minutes.

Posing with her new favorite toy..

A CRATE!! Tee hee hee!

Slacking!

I can't believe that it has almost been a month since my last blog. There is so much to say. I'll start with Carla... Of course! I have started to TRY to teach her how to feed herself using a spoon. Yup, as seen below, why does she need a spoon when she has hands??? She still won't feed herself, so I decided, she isn't ready. I get to feed her a little while longer. I love watching her eat finger foods though. She usually makes such a mess, that the most effective way to clean her is to stick her in the bath! I'm loving being a mom!

Carla has been really sick lately. This is how we know that she is REALLY, REALLY sick.... she snuggles! She was vomiting for 3 weeks, had diarehhea for 3 1/2 weeks, has had two yeast infections, currently on her third, back to back colds, and on the 14th she cut her left 18 month molar, and on the 16th, cut her right 18 month molar. They did stool samples to see why she has had diarreah and been vomiting for so long. Although it was to no avail. Everything came back negative. So, doctor's diagnose... a virus. Poor baby! During the whole ordeal, she was put on a liquid diet... TWICE, and then we had to gradually reintroduce solids. She was NOT a fan of the liquid diet, except for the fact that now she is in love with nursing again. She nurses for at least 10 minutes on each side. Fun stuff, especially because I'm supposed to be weaning her this month. Well, we'll see how it goes.My mommy, bringing Carlita, Gatorade, during her liquid diet time.

Some people think this is too mushy, but I LOVE IT! One of the many reasons why Zach is the love of my life...Mission Reunion Time!!! I love Pres. and Sister Haines. They have been such amazing rolemodels in my life. I would love to have the same charity that Sister Haines has for EVERYONE she meets. What amazing people they are. Sadly, three days after the reunion a beloved couple sister missionary was called home. Sister Ruth Merrill. I love her dearly and is missed so much! I loved randomly recieving her phone calls, just checking up on Carla. She made her some burp cloths. They will be treasured forever.

We loved seeing many of our other mission friends. Oh what fun! Homles, I don't have a picture of us! Know that I love you though!